West Hempstead teen raises $20K for ANCHOR

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Several years ago, Brendan Callahan, 17, a West Hempstead resident and senior at Kellenberg Memorial High School had a brainstorm: to help raise money for Camp ANCHOR, the year-round recreation program for citizens with mental and physical handicaps. Because Callahan has a brother Thomas, who struggles with autism and attends the camp, and his older brother had been a volunteer there for many years, it seemed like a good fit. “Camp ANCHOR has always been a very big part of my life and my family’s life,” said Callahan. “Organizing the walk-a-thons just seemed like a good thing to do,” he added.

That was a huge understatement.

Over the past three years, Callahan, together with co-coordinator Michelle Esposito raised over $20,000 for camp’s ANCHOR Program Fund, which provides field trips, supplies, and other necessities for the camp’s participants.

The annual walk-a-thon coordinated by Callahan occurs each year in the late fall on Kellenberg Memorial’s track. This year’s walk was held October 26th. “Kellenberg doesn’t charge us anything to use the facility and they had teachers there to help us out,” said Callahan. “They’ve been incredibly supportive,” he added.

Each year, participants are asked to pay an entry fee of $10 and are given a sponsor sheet. When each participant raises over certain amounts, they receive a gift such as a Camp Anchor t-shirt, tote bag or something similar. Many Kellenberg students and faculty walk, donate, and offer support to the annual event.

“Each year we get around 200 people participating,” said Callahan, who is a life-long West Hempstead resident and attended St. Thomas the Apostle grammar school in West Hempstead before going to Kellenberg. “The first year we did this it was the day before Sandy, so we’re lucky that it actually happened,” he said. That year, they raised close to $8,000 for Camp Anchor. Last year, the effort generated $9,000 for the camp and this year’s intake was over $6,000.

Now that the walk-a-thon is finished, Callahan is doing what other seniors are focusing on nowadays: college applications. “I’m currently looking a state schools in Albany and Plattsburgh,” Callahan said. Not surprisingly, he wants to pursue a career in special education.

In his spare time, Callahan plays basketball but says most of his time is spent doing work at the camp. “This was my first year as a paid staff member. I volunteered at ANCHOR for three years prior to that,” he said. Callahan volunteers during both the winter and summer camps.

One of the highlights of Callahan’s work with ANCHOR this past summer has been helping the kids participate in a new surfing program made possible through the Tommy Brull Foundation. In conjunction with ANCHOR, the foundation, launched the first-ever surfing program at the camp — and many children and adults participated. “We had the opportunity to take wheelchair bound kids surfing,” said Callahan. “There is really no other opportunity for them to go surfing if it wasn’t for this program,” said Callahan.

Gallant as he is, Callahan didn’t mention that his own involvement also contributed to making the surfing experience a reality for them as well.